Scarlet Comes Around

She sits, stunned, on the bed, staring at me, mouth agape.

“But… how?”

“The important thing is that you’re okay with it,” I say, hugging her once more.

She sits in my arms, quiet, as if realising all of a sudden what me being Markus actually implies.

“You came back,” she says, her eyes widening. “Back for me.”

“And for the others,” I say.

She shakes her head, leaning forwards, examining me close up, her fingers tracing the lines of my face.

“I see it, now that I know,” she says still sounding uncertain of herself, and then she leans back, puzzled. “But I don’t get how… all of this…”

“It’s a long story,” I smile. “You want the full thing?”

“We’re stuck in here all night,” Scarlet says, smiling back at me. “I wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight, anyways.”

“Let me make you a coffee first,” I say. “Then, story time.”

Three cups of coffee later, and I finally finish telling my story to Scarlet.

“You’re insane,” she laughs. “I knew you were changing your name, but I didn’t think you were going to change everything else too… a new history, a new look… you had me fooled, and I was supposed to be the one who could tell!”

“That’s reassuring,” I say. “With any luck, we’ll fool the rest of them too.”

Scarlet nods.

“But you haven’t told my mom yet,” she says.

“No.”

She looks at me questioningly.

“Do you think I should tell her?” I ask. “I’m not sure that she’s on our side.”

“She’s close to Father,” Scarlet agrees with a sigh. “But the bigger issue is…”

“Hyerim,” I say, completing her sentence.

We stare at each other, on the same wavelength.

“She’s got mom in her back pocket,” Scarlet says, saying what we’re both thinking.

“And so she’s in Father’s corner, too,” I finish.

“Damn,” Scarlet says with a sigh. “I wish it weren’t so hard.”

“It was easier to sleep with her than to trust her,” I say.

“Yeah,” she says wearily. “Could you pass me my phone? I should be preparing for tomorrow. Can’t miss on this opportunity we’ve been handed.”

“Make them pay for it,” I say, handing her her phone.

“Well, the ones who did it are dead,” Scarlet says, nodding at the back door. “But the rest of them… yeah. They’re going to regret ever trying to cross me.”

I nod, muttering something in response, but the words they’re dead hang in my head for a second longer.

I’ve never killed someone before.

Now I’ve got the blood of four on my hands. Maybe five.

But strangely, I don’t feel any real emotion about it. It happened. It was necessary. I realise that I would do it again. There are things that I would kill for. And in a way, I suppose I’ve aways known that. I’ve just never had to do it before.

I wonder if that makes me a bad person.

Then, I chuckle to myself. Me? A bad person? At this point, I’ve committed enough crimes to make a Russian mobster blush. No, the question will be what it would have been for.

I look over to Scarlet, busy replying to the hundreds of messages that she’s received on her phone, her beautiful face dimly lit by that blue rectangle. I do it for her, and for everyone that’s shown me some good in this world, when everything looked so hopeless.

Then, I pull out my phone, checking the AMA.

A familiar set of scores greet me, but there’s one that’s seen a big change.

Scarlet Najbreit, Score: 100 (as Markus (+45) and Claude (+93)) (10 Spillover Points)

I’ve reached the maximum score with Scarlet!

I knew that this was likely to happen, given the daring rescue I had just performed, but still, I can’t help but feel giddy inside. I smile at Scarlet, still furiously typing on her phone, and she, as if sensing my gaze, looks up at me and smiles.

And then she notices the AMA open on my lap.

“What’s that?” she asks, curiously looking at the interface.

“I forgot you could see this now,” I laugh, and then I tilt the screen of my phone towards her.

Hello Scarlet, the message appears on my phone. Congratulations on reaching 100 points with Markus. You should be proud of yourself. Yes, this is confusing. And perhaps you are right, I can read your mind. But don’t worry. It’s not him, too. And the answer to that question is a no. Mmmm… so many questions. I’ll let Markus take over from here.

Scarlet stares at me, demanding an explanation.

“So,” I say, clearing the message from the app. “This is the Affection Multiplier App. It um… does many things…”

I finish giving her a tour of the AMA, ending on the perks tab.

Curent Points: 150

Perk - Fearlessness I: Gives you the ability to selectively disable your sense of fear. Upgradeable. Cost: 50 points.

Perk - Joy’s Deliverance II: Makes anyone you sexually couple with capable of orgasming from stimulation to any erogenous zone. Upgradeable. Cost: 150 points.

Perk - Swoon: Anyone meeting you for the first time gets butterflies in their stomach. Cost: 250 points.

Perk - Quiet ****: Die painlessly. Cost: 1000 points.

More perks may be unlocked through further use of the app.

“So as you can see, reaching 100 points with you gave me an extra 50 points to spend in the shop, which gives me 150 points right now,” I say.

“Oooh,” Scarlet says, pointing at one of the perks on my screen. “You can afford this one!”

“Joy’s Deliverance II?” I say.

She nods eagerly.

“Well, I’ve been saving up for Quiet ****,” I say.

She stares at me blankly.

“Just kidding,” I laugh. “I have no idea why that’s even there.”

“So get Joy’s Deliverance,” she says, tugging on my arm.

“You seem quite certain that I should be getting this one,” I say. “What, do you want to experience it?”

Scarlet looks at me guiltily, a sheepish smile on her face.

“Yes, but also…” She pauses, and then laughs. “Oh, what am I getting embarrassed for? We’ve just fucked. It’s just…”

“Yes?” I ask.

“I used to have this fantasy,” she says, barely daring to meet my eyes. “After you got expelled from the family, I used to dream that one day, you would sneak back to the house, slip into my room while I was sleeping, and then… you would take me and use me however you liked…”

“You’re one fucked up girl,” I laugh, giving Scarlet another hug.

She laughs, hugging me back, and then suddenly looks up at me.

“Is it wrong if I want to do that now, too?”

“Reenact that fantasy?” I ask, hardly believing my luck.

She nods at me anxiously.

I press the purchase button, draining my available points down to 0, replacing Joy’s Deliverance II in the shop with:

Perk - Joy’s Deliverance III: Given sufficient effort, makes anyone you come into contact with capable of orgasming at your touch. Cost: 250 points.

“Oh my god,” she says, her breaths already picking up in pace. “It’s really happening…”

“Close your eyes,” I say smoothly, draping my fingers down her eyelids. “Go to sleep. And beware what lurks in the night…”